About blank - what is it and how to remove it? How to remove a virus from browsers About blank Development of a new search engine and related services

In this article we will talk about a virus that changes the browser’s start (home) page to the one indicated above, opens “bad” sites when creating new tabs, and replaces the results of a search query.

Definition of “about blank”

In its original understanding, this term means a blank page in the browser.

But, sometimes this can be a manifestation of a virus, which, by the way, does not disdain all popular browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, etc., usually appears through infected/modified installers of free applications.

How to remove the "about blank" virus?

You can use one of the following methods:

Restoring the system before the virus appeared in the system;
Cleaning the virus manually (deleting the folder with executable files, cleaning the registry).
Restoring browser configurations.

System Restore

We write the word “Recovery” in the search bar:

And select the found menu by clicking the mouse button or the Enter key on the keyboard. The “System Restore” window will open, where you need to select a restore point that precedes the appearance of the virus in the system (I don’t have a virus, so I just point to an earlier date), and click “Next”:

After performing the manipulations to return the system to the previous state, the computer will reboot and, after loading, there will be no virus (provided that all of the above is done correctly). If there is no result, then you can try choosing another, earlier restore point.
Cleaning the virus manually
By analogy with system recovery, this method is equally applicable on versions of Windows 7, 8 and 10. Let's start by cleaning the registry - press the Windows + R key combination on the keyboard (simultaneously), and in the window that opens, write the regedit command. The whole thing should look like this:

Then press the OK button in the window or Enter on the keyboard. Next, the built-in Windows registry editor will open, in which you need to go to the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindows. We need a key called "AppInit_DLLs".

Open the key by double-clicking the mouse, select its value, copy it, save it to a text file on the desktop (in an empty space on the Desktop, right-click Create - Text Document) and paste the copied text there (we will need it later). After this, in the key itself, we completely delete the value using the Backspace key or by clicking on the selected text with the right mouse button - Delete.

Click OK.

Next, you need to restart your computer in Safe Mode. To do this, when you turn on the computer, you need to hold down the F8 key on the keyboard until you see the Windows boot logo:

After downloading, you need to open the same notepad file that we created earlier, copy the path from it, and then open Explorer (My Computer, Computer or This Computer, depending on the version of Windows). Then paste this path into the address bar:

Note: in your case, the path and names of the files may differ! The screenshots are an example of a guide so that you can find and delete the necessary files.
After following the copied path, you need to delete the contents of the folder (there may be 1 or several files):
After this, you need to restart the computer again (in the most normal mode) - and the virus will be completely removed.

Restoring browser configurations
Since there can be at least several options for the browser used - everyone prefers their own - now we will talk about restoring settings in the main popular browsers in each separately.

Google Chrome.

Registering on the Yandex.ru website is not difficult, however, not all visitors to our site can register on their own. This lesson is intended for them.

Yandex is not only mail! These are many useful services that you will have access to after registering on the site.

How to register in Yandex mail

So, let's start registering. To do this, go to the main page of the Yandex search engine https://www.yandex.ru

On the page that opens, in the upper right corner we see the mail login window. However, we do not yet have a username or password to log in. So, to get started, press the button Create an email

A small questionnaire will appear (not like when registering on social networks!)

Enter your first and last name.

Then, you need to come up with a login. The login will be part of the name of your mailbox, like, [email protected], so it should not be difficult to remember. By the way, prompts will appear for logins that are not yet occupied. They are basically derived from your first and last name in English. Choose the option you like and move on.

Now you need to come up with a password. For reliability, the password must consist of at least 7 characters: large and small English letters, numbers. When entering a password, the characters will be replaced with asterisks. However, if you click on the “eye” icon on the right side of the password field, then the password becomes visible. This will make it easier to avoid mistakes. In the field below, enter your password again. A green message “entered correctly” should appear. Before we forget, write down your username and password in a notebook .

Now enter your mobile phone number and click the Get code button. Enter the code received via SMS in the appropriate field. After that, make sure that there is a checkmark in front of the phrase “By clicking the Register button, I accept the terms of the User Agreement...” and click the Register button.

By the way, if you don’t have a phone at the moment, you can still register. To do this, click the “I don’t have a phone” link. Additional fields will appear.

You will need to select Security Question from the drop-down list, and below, enter the answer to the security question. After that, to prove that you are not a robot, you need to enter not very legible symbols in the field to the right of the symbols.. After that, put a check mark in front of the phrase “By clicking the Register button, I accept the terms of the User Agreement...” and press the button Register. Your new mailbox will immediately open in front of you.

How to register in Yandex mail - video tutorial from the Virtual Computer Academy for pensioners

The video tutorial clearly shows:

How to register a mailbox on Yandex yourself,
How to set up a mailbox,
How to send mail,
)How to send a letter with files,
How to make quick access to Yandex mail

After registration, you can check your Yandex mailbox at any time and from any computer.
To do this, go to the main page of the Yandex search engine: https://yandex.ru

In the upper right corner of the page there will be a mail login window. Enter your Login and Password (I advised you to write them down in your notepad). If you are not logging in from your own computer, then check the box next to the phrase Someone else's computer. Then the browser will not remember the login and password.

If you log in from your computer, Yandex will immediately guess you and your login and your photo will appear in the upper right corner of the page.

Today we will partially look at the Yandex search engine.

Its main page is the face of the entire system and literally a portal to the wonderful world of the search engine, which occupies a leading position in the RuNet.

There is no point in talking about the reasons for leadership now, because the topic of our article is somewhat different, but, in a few words, then, Yandex:

Helps the user
Friendly even for beginners
Easy to use
Uses a unique ranking system
He has his own path of development and tries to bring something new.

The system was launched back in ninety-seven during a presentation at the Softool exhibition.

And already at that time, Yandex coped with the morphology of the Russian language without any problems, searched for the information the user needed, taking into account the distance.

It also had its own algorithm for the relevance of a particular page of each site that was indexed.

First acquaintance with the main page

In order to get to the Yandex main page, just enter www Yandex or www Yandex ru or ru in the search bar of your browser.

Well, if you are generally lazy or are full of impatience to enjoy a hitherto unprecedented spectacle, just write “Yandex” and click on the first link that appears in the search.

So, we are on the main page. It must be said that since its inception, this search engine’s home page has changed very often.

And all because the developers carefully monitor modern trends and user desires.

Based on all this, like a designer, a page is assembled that best matches what we are used to calling the word “convenience” or “comfort”.

When you arrive on the page for the first time, the first thing you will do is look at the very top, where a strip will pop up offering you to download an adapted browser Yandex.Browser, equipped with special protection technology.

Advice! Despite the fact that Yandex.Browser is well designed and “tailored” to all the desires of a simple user, someone will not want to download it, and the top bar will distract from important information. In this case, you can pay attention to the upper right corner of the page, where there is a “Close” button, made in the form of a cross. Click on it, and you will no longer see the annoying bar asking you to take an action that is unnecessary for you.

Of course, after some time it may appear again, but you will already know exactly what to do with it.

Well, or she will convince you and you still decide to download Yandex.Browser, at least for fun.

At the end of the review, by the way, we will provide you with a video with detailed setup of this browser.

Make Yandex the main page in the browser

You may have a question: “How can I make sure that the Yandex main page is always in my browser and I don’t have to constantly look for it?”

You can do this absolutely free!

The thoughtful developers took care of this, so if you look at the very top left corner of the page, you can find a link that says “Set as homepage”.

Click, you will be prompted to install a special extension and you’re done – home page!

Advice! Pay attention to the picture above. The first arrow (on the left) indicates the main link, which allows you to make Yandex the start page of any browser. However, if you use the Google Chrome browser, you may see a convenient ad (arrow on the left) that will help you install a special extension that will quickly make Yandex the main search engine in the browser. After this, every time you want to surf the Internet, your favorite Yandex home page will automatically load.

We indicate our location if Yandex has not determined it

After a little manipulation with the browser, we return to the page and see that the city in which you are currently located is indicated in the same upper left corner.

The system automatically detects it and provides you with information that is most relevant to the place in which you are currently located.

But it may also happen that Yandex makes a mistake and gives you the wrong city.

So, if you are still interested in the Yandex search engine, we will continue. We move to the upper right corner of the page and see several links there.

They allow:

, on which the page will be

, customizing it for yourself

Create an email if you don’t have one (there is a “ ” button)

Advice! Registration in Yandex is fast and convenient. We advise you to use it, because it will allow you to use additional features of the system, as well as save all the changes you have made in the settings.

News in Yandex

Having dealt with the top of the page, we move closer to the middle. As you will notice, a “News” column will appear before your eyes.

Initially, it displays news that is relevant to the country in which you are located.

If your country is Russia, all the news that happened today will be shown. If in Ukraine, the corresponding content will be shown.

However, if you are more interested in news related to the area in which you live, just click on the link next to the "News" link, which is named after your area.

In our case, this is the “Dnepropetrovsk region”.

And to the right of the news, advertising banners of the Yandex company are constantly broadcast, which either help with some little things or talk about some new products of the company and its partners.

More detailed news

Yandex search bar

In the center of the Yandex main page there is the main thing - the search engine logo and the search line in which users enter their queries.

Indeed, no matter what you enter in the search bar, you will definitely have dozens, or even hundreds of options for sites on which you will definitely find what you are looking for.

On the left is a city map, train schedule and TV program, which allows you to find out what films you can watch right now and whether you should be distracted by TV at all.

At the very bottom of the page there is practically nothing useful for the average user, however, experienced users will find the links listed there important and necessary.

Among them is a link to Yandex.Direct (by the way, it is this system that brings the lion’s share of profit to the search engine), a link to metrics and to a page for ordering advertising.

And this is only on the left side.

On the right side you can find a button in the form of a question mark, which will take you to a page with a FAQ about the system and its services.

Conclusion

This is how the main page of the Yandex search engine appears before us.

We hope that our brief review will allow you to get at least a little familiar with it, get used to working with search and other “goodies” that this page offers.

Use Yandex and always stay up to date!

The video with Yandex Browser setup promised at the beginning:

Yandex browser settings

I will show you how to set up the Yandex browser and show its capabilities and functions. I especially like the ability to translate words in the browser.

If you find that your browser has started to open About:blank page that automatically redirects your browser to an advertising site, your computer is infected with malware from the large family of ad viruses. An adware virus is a program that is designed specifically to open as many advertisements as possible, and does so without the user’s permission. Moreover, adware can redirect the browser to malicious and misleading web pages. Therefore, if you notice that your browser has begun to independently load a site that is unknown to you, instead of the one you want to open, then you do not need to ignore it or think that this is a program failure. Check your computer as soon as possible using the instructions below, which will help you detect and remove adware and thus get rid of intrusive About:blank pop-ups.

Automatically opening “About:blank” window allows adware to redirect the browser to different advertising sites

Most often, ad viruses only infect the most common browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. But there are also malware that can change browser shortcuts that they find on the Desktop. This leads to the fact that when you launch the browser, instead of your favorite start page, a completely unfamiliar advertising site will open. Even if you try to set a new home page, this will not help; the browser will still try to load blatant advertising every time it starts.

As long as the computer is infected with adware, all browsers can be redirected to different advertising and fraudulent sites. Of course, an adware virus does not damage personal and system files, but it can display a huge amount of advertising. These advertising messages can be directly inserted into the pages that you open in your browser and can be such as: pop-up windows, advertising banners of different sizes, advertising links, offers to download and install various programs. Moreover, these advertisements may appear on all sites you visit, even those on which you have never seen any advertising before.

We recommend cleaning your computer and removing adware as quickly as possible. The instructions below will help you remove malware and thus get rid of About:blank pop-ups. To do this, you will need to use only the built-in capabilities of the operating system and several proven free programs.

How adware that opens About:blank windows got onto your computer

Most likely, adware was installed on your computer when you installed a new free program, such as an email client, PDF creator, video player, and so on. This happened due to the fact that very often ad viruses are integrated into installation packages that are distributed by various large hosting sites for free and cracked programs, as well as torrent tracker sites. Even if you uninstall the program that introduced the adware virus to your computer, you will not remove the intrusive About:blank windows. Adware can only be removed from your computer manually or using specialized programs, as described in the instructions below.

How to remove About:blank in Windows 10 (8, 7, XP)

A simple question to answer the answer you are interested in about how to get rid of intrusive advertising and pop-up windows is on this page. Our team has developed simple and effective instructions. It will allow you to easily clean your computer from adware and thus remove About:blank from Google Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge, Yandex, Opera and other browsers. Please read these instructions in their entirety, then link to them or simply print them out, as you may need to close your browser or restart your computer while following them.

Uninstall the program that was causing the About:blank pop-ups to appear

Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, 7

Click Start or press the Windows button on your keyboard. From the menu that opens, select Control Panel.

Windows 8

Click on the Windows button.

In the upper right corner, find and click on the Search icon.

In the input field type Control Panel.

Press Enter.

Windows 10

Click on the search button

In the input field type Control Panel.

Press Enter.

The Control Panel will open, in it select the item Uninstalling a program.

You will be shown a list of all programs installed on your computer. Review it carefully and uninstall the program that you suspect as the cause of the infection. This is probably the last program you installed. Also, take a close look at other programs and remove any that seem suspicious to you or that you are sure that you did not install them yourself. To remove, select a program from the list and click the button Delete/Change.

Remove About:blank from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer using AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner is a small program that does not require installation on your computer and is designed specifically to find and remove adware and potentially unnecessary programs. This utility does not conflict with the antivirus, so you can safely use it. There is no need to uninstall your antivirus program.

Download the AdwCleaner program by clicking on the following link.

Remove About:blank in Firefox by resetting browser settings

Resetting Firefox settings will remove malicious extensions and restore browser settings to default values. At the same time, your personal data, such as bookmarks and passwords, will be saved.

Open the main menu of Chrome by clicking on the button in the form of three horizontal stripes (). In the menu that appears, click on the question mark icon (). This will bring up the Help menu as shown in the image below.

Here you need to find the Troubleshooting Information item. Click on it. In the page that opens, in the Set up Firefox section, click the Clean Firefox button. The program will ask you to confirm your actions.

Click the Clean Firefox button. As a result of these actions, the browser settings will be reset to their original settings. This will remove pop-ups with the About:blank page.

Remove About:blank in Internet Explorer by resetting your browser settings

Resetting Internet Explorer and Edge settings will remove malicious extensions and restore browser settings to default values.

Open the main browser by clicking on the button in the form of a gear (). In the menu that appears, select Internet Options.

Here, open the Advanced tab, and in it click the Reset button. The Reset Internet Explorer settings window opens. Check the box next to Delete personal settings, and then click the Reset button.

When the factory reset process is complete, click Close. For the changes to take effect, you need to restart your computer. This way you can get rid of the automatic opening of the About:blank page.

Block loading dangerous and deceptive sites

To increase the protection of your computer, in addition to anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, you need to use an application that blocks access to a variety of dangerous and misleading websites. In addition, such an application can block the display of intrusive advertising, which will also lead to faster loading of websites and a reduction in web traffic consumption.

Download the AdGuard program using the following link.

Download Adguard
Downloaded 179901 times

After the download is complete, run the downloaded file. The Program Installation Wizard window will open in front of you.

Click on the I accept the terms and conditions button and follow the instructions of the program. Once the installation is complete, you will see a window as shown in the image below.

You can click Skip to close the installation program and use the default settings, or the Get Started button to familiarize yourself with AdGuard's features and make changes to the default settings.

In most cases, the standard settings are sufficient and there is no need to change anything. Every time you start your computer, AdGuard will start automatically and block pop-up ads, as well as other malicious or misleading web pages. To get acquainted with all the features of the program or to change its settings, you just need to double-click on the AdGuard icon, which is located on your desktop.

Check the task scheduler

To completely clean your computer, you also need to check the Task Scheduler Library and delete all tasks that were created by malicious programs, since they may be the reason for the automatic opening of the About:blank page when you turn on the computer or at regular intervals.

Press Windows and R (Russian K) on your keyboard at the same time. A small window will open with the title Run. In the input line, enter “taskschd.msc” (without quotes) and press Enter. The Task Scheduler window will open. On the left side, select “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown in the following example.

In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, and in its properties, which will open just below, select the Actions tab. Go through each task one by one, paying attention to what it runs on your computer. If you find something like “explorer.exe hxxp://site address” or “chrome.exe hxxp://site address”, then you can safely delete this task. If you are not sure what the task starts, then check it through our website or in a search engine by the name of the file being launched. If the file is a component of a virus or malware, then this task can also be safely deleted.

Having decided on the task that you want to delete, right-click on it and select Delete. Perform this step several times if you find several jobs that were created by malware. An example of deleting a task created by an adware virus is shown in the figure below.

After deleting all tasks, close the Task Scheduler window.

In order to avoid infecting your computer in the future, please follow three small tips

When installing new programs on your computer, always read the rules for their use, as well as all the messages that the program will show you. Try not to install with default settings!
Keep anti-virus and anti-spyware programs updated to the latest versions. Please also note that you have Windows automatic updates enabled and all available updates are already installed. If you are not sure, then you need to visit the Windows Update website, where they will tell you how and what needs to be updated in Windows.
If you use Java, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash Player, be sure to update them on time.

A browser hijacker called About blank does not disdain Firefox, Google Chrome, or Opera. All of them are good for his “dirty dealings”. Both together and separately. It enters the system through infected or deliberately modified installers of free applications. (Other modification options are not excluded!)

The malware changes the home (start) page in browsers. Instead of Yandex, Google and other popular trusted search engines, it contains a link to an advertising, potentially dangerous site. Thus, it reduces the level of PC security and disrupts the comfort of web surfing. Masks its name under the address of an empty tab - “about: blank”. (But, unlike a virus, this particular URL contains a colon character, and nothing is displayed on the page.)

To remove about blank from your computer once and for all, follow one of the instructions below (optional).

Method No. 1: treating Windows manually and using utilities

Cleaning the registry

1. Press the “Win” and “R” keys simultaneously.

2. In the Run panel, type - regedit. Click OK.

3. In the left panel of the editor, where “branches” are displayed, open the following directories in sequence:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → SOFTWARE → Microsoft → Windows NT → CurrentVersion → Windows

4. In the right panel, in the list of entries, find the key named Applnit_DLLs (this is the tricks of the malware!). And then right-click on it.

5. In the context menu, select “Edit...”.

6. In the lower “Value data” field, copy the path to the virus files (elements). And save it to a text file in Notepad (preferably to your desktop so as not to lose it).

7. Click OK.

8. Right-click on the Applnit_DLLs entry again and select “Delete”.

9. In the editor menu, open: Edit → Find.

10. In the “Search” window, in the “Find” field, make a request - about blank.

12. Delete all malicious entries found by the scanner through the context menu.

13. After cleaning, continue scanning (start - key “F3”).

14. Check all directories.

Removing the virus folder and files

1. Reboot the OS in safe mode. Hold “F5” or “F8” during restart (this function can be activated by another key; see the computer manufacturer’s instructions).

2. Open the text file with the location of the malware directory that you saved earlier. Copy the path (Ctrl+C).

3. Press "Win + E".

4. Clear the first field (remove the “Computer” entry) at the top of the window. And then paste the copied path into it (Ctrl+V). Press "Enter".

5. Drag the entire contents of the folder to the Trash. Then delete the folder itself (it may be called bitguard).

6. Restart your PC in standard mode.

Restoring browser settings

Download the Browser cleanup utility from the Avast website.
In each browser one by one (see the vertical menu of the utility), remove all suspicious add-ons and reset the settings (click the corresponding button in the interface).
In the additional window, specify your preferred search engine. It will open automatically when you start the browser.

If the virus is not removed...

Scan the system partition (drive C) with the AdwCleaner utility. Remove all potentially dangerous and suspicious objects found (registry keys, files and folders). Reboot your system and check your browsers again.

As a preventive measure, additionally, check all sections of one of the following treatment utilities:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware;
Dr.Web CureIt!;
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool.

Method number 2: restoring the OS

If you are not familiar with browser settings and do not know how to work with the registry editor, try rolling back the operating system. That is, return its previous settings, recorded in a special restore point.

Attention! Before restoring Windows, transfer data that is of particular value to you (photos, videos, application presets) to another partition (for example, drive D).

1. Open the Start menu (Win key).

2. Enter “Recovery” in the search bar.

3. Click “System Restore” in the list of programs that appear.

4. In the System Restore window, read the warning and click Next.

5. Select a restore point by clicking the mouse (focus on the date it was saved).

7. Start the OS rollback procedure: click “Finish”.

8. To confirm activation of recovery, click “Yes” in the additional window.

9. If the operation is successful, a message will appear indicating the state to which day/month/year the system was restored.

If the virus is still present in browsers, try rolling back to the point you saved earlier.

Speedy recovery to your PC!